A place where you can go and feel free to speak your mind... about KISS.

Friday, June 09, 2006

Hotter Than Hell *****

So I'd like the KISS panel to review every KISS album, one at a time, including Killers. But I'd rather not do them in order to keep things interesting.

Hotter Than Hell is one of my personal favorite KISS records and has been for some years now. In my opinion it's as close to a perfect album as KISS gets. One of the many reasons it's so mind-blowing is that part in Watchin' You when the guitar is like "Bum-ba-na-naaah, bum-ba-na-na-naaah, bum-ba-na-naah, bum-ba-na-na-naah" and then the other guitar joins in and they're all like "BUM-BA-NA-NAAAH!!!, BUM-BA-NA-NA-NAAAH!!!". It's one of those moments that makes you sit back and think about just how fantastic KISS really is. In fact, I'm listening to Watchin' You right now and it's at the "And I'm trying baby, trying not to STAAAAAAARE!-AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!" part. Helluva song.

But there's more to Hotter Than Hell than that one song. The song Hotter Than Hell is KISS in peak form. The song couldn't be more basic but it works. Going Blind is probably the only excellent Gene ballad in existence. (When You Wish Upon A Star just doesn't do it for me, sorry JPX.) And Strange Ways showcases Peter's cat-like raspiness in all its glory. And I shouldn't even have to mention Parasite but I just did so all I'll add is that Parasite friggin' rules.

3 comments:

"When You Wish Upon a Star", excuse me? It's true I can't get enough of Peter's "You Matter to Me" ('Cause you matter to me, ooh-eeee-ooo da da da da da da da'), but I draw the line at Gene's solo album, "Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaan, of a thousand faces..." Bleech!